Involuntary Lead Miner Patrick Andrade for The New York Times
It isn't Frank Meuschke's fault that he became an involuntary lead miner. He was just trying to grow vegetables.
Place the blame squarely on the shoulders of outdated horticultural methods that don’t take into consideration the realities of urban food gardening. Good old dirt may be a good idea out in the country, but not in the city where most of us now live.
Locovores and foodies take note: local food shouldn’t be hazardous to our health.
If you’re not aware of the urban contaminated soil problem, read this NY Times article titled Lead Is a Concern for Urban Gardens. It’s an alarming story of the dangers of contaminated city soil and edible gardening.
Open Lead Mine Patrick Andrade for The New York Times
Note that even though growing food in sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) planters, boxes, beds, buckets, and other containers is an obvious solution to the problem of contaminated city soil, there’s not one word about it in the article.
If the reporter had asked us, we’d have told her: have no fear, lead-free gardening is already here. (see links below)
Think of sub-irrigated growing as safe gardening—because no native soil is ever used. It is lead-free gardening at its easiest and should be the first-choice method for most of us living in the city.
You might wonder why a NY Times investigative reporter doesn't know about lead-free urban gardening. It's easy for me to understand because I research the subject daily via the more than 800 RSS feeds streaming into my computer.
These feeds coupled with Google site searches show clearly that our horticultural and botanic institutions are teaching outdated methods based solely on native-soil gardening and drain-hole watering. It’s cave dweller stuff, but unfortunately it’s the information most accessible to the mainstream media...and therefore to urban gardeners.
Links for consumers, journalists and bloggers that shed some light on a dark subject.
If you are a consumer, an investigative reporter, journalist or blogger searching for the truth about modern urban gardening and agriculture, investigate these links and you will be well on your way to a complete understanding of this important subject.
The subject has a direct connection to the challenges of local food production and green job creation we are trying so hard to resolve.
Some search tips:
Self-watering: Although inaccurate and misleading, the term "self-watering" is embedded in the consumer market. Professionals use the term "sub-irrigation", but you won't find much consumer information if you search on this term. Search the web and individual websites using the term self-watering.
EarthBox or earthbox or earth box: It is a brand name that has become a rather generic term for all sub-irrigated box planters, even the home made versions.
Google Site Searches: Use Google Site searches to ferret out the uninformed and biased. Armed with this powerful tool, you can "x-ray" a website with just a few clicks.
A few site searches, for example, will reveal content that is all about container gardening but nothing about "self-watering" (sub-irrigation). In this digital information age it is difficult to believe that this is ignorance versus editorial bias.
You can use the Google Tool Bar to do site searches. Even better, install a site search widget on your bookmarks bar.
USDA Extension Program Site(s) Search - In my view, this tool provides the most revealing evidence of our dysfunctional horticultural education. With just a few clicks you can search all 50 USDA Cooperative Extension Program websites. Connect with all of the land grant universities in the country with just one click.
When you use this x-ray tool you will soon discover that this system is providing information from an agrarian past with little connection to modern urban life. It's mostly about dirt gardening and drain holes.
For example:
Search on earthbox - only 42 hits.
Web Search on earthbox - about 151,000 hits
Search on "self-watering" (in quotes) -only 60 hits
Web Search on "self-watering" (in quotes) - about 242,000 hits
Websites:
Brick City Urban Farms, Newark NJ - The founders of this business discovered the EarthBox as a solution to their contaminated soil problem. They are now in their second season and have 500 EarthBoxes on the ground and 500 on a rooftop.
Rooftop Garden Project - Montreal
McGill University Edible Campus
Sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) planter sources:
Tomato Success Kit - Gardener's Supply
EarthTainer - an open source do-it-yourself sub-irrigated planter.
Discussion:
GardenWeb Container Gardening Forum
GardenWeb Growing Tomatoes Forum
GardenWeb Vegetable Gardening Forum
Mr. Grow Box:
First, as a former tool of the NY Times, I would rather not be a tool of the grow box booster industry. I do not disagree with your claims about the efficacy of sub-irrigation, but the Times article had little interest in my own industrious nature or the whole story.
Before I tested my soil, which I did as part of a favor to the Brooklyn College Environmental Science Analytical Center (to get the word out about their service) and as a topic of interest to new-comers to gardening (particularly in city environs), I was aware of the likelihood of contaminants in our soils. It was not alarming, not unexpected.
Been gardening since childhood, ignorantly at first, but not so much anymore. I made wooden boxes because I had scrap wood and chose not to use the free 5 gallon pails some neighbors were using. There is no "blame" to place as you put it. Its not about ignorant "dirt" farming. I had enough good sense to expect my soil to be contaminated. I'm glad others do to, nice to see so many gardeners growing things.
Could I have used grow boxes, sure. But I wasn't interested in spending any money (I am aware they are affordably-priced). I am not a "lead miner" as you so strangely put it. The Times' story is their story, not mine.
I garden because its natural for me to do so, I like the plants, the creatures, and the work.
Posted by: frank@nycgarden | June 04, 2009 at 02:18 PM
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Posted by: Qp22Piper | December 25, 2009 at 04:17 PM